Rafael was pulled every which way to help his stepmother and brothers get ready for the gathering. First, the two brothers asked him to polish their shoes, then the stepmother wanted him to tie her corset. After hours of this they we're all ready to go and Rafael asked, 

 “Can I go to the gathering with you?” The stepmother looked down upon him disapprovingly, “Why would we take you with us? For you have nothing to wear.”

“Please, may I go I have my father’s suit I can wear,” Rafael exclaimed.

“Go get it, I want to see how you will look.” she waves him on.  He quickly jumps into action and runs down the basement stairs into his room passed where his dog is sleeping on his bed. He reaches up into his closet and pulls out a cardboard box with some of his father’s clothes. He pulls out the black jacket, brown pants, white undershirt, and black tie and proceeds to put it on in a hurry. He races up the stairs back to his stepmother and brothers. 

“Ha! You think this old thing is acceptable attire for the gathering.” said the stepmother looking him up and down with a disgusted face. “You must look prim and proper for this occasion” as she walks up to him and tears one of his jacket sleeves clean off. “As is I would ever let you go with us,” proceeding to tear another one of his sleeves off, “you would disgrace our entire family looking like this.” 

Rafael breaks down into tears as the brothers ruin what's left of his suit, and they turn to leave, leaving him to cry alone. He runs out to the garden his dog pounding up the stairs to follow him. As he feels like nothing could ever go right in his life he sees an old woman in his garden begging for food. 

“Please sir, could I trouble you for some food.” Rafael wipes the tears from his eyes and says. 

“Of course you can, no trouble at all.” His smile is broken, but not his kind heart.

“Thank you, my dear,” she says excitement in her voice. Rafael motions her to follow him into his house down the hall and into the kitchen. When she finishes her meal she transforms into a beautiful looking fairy type creature. He looks up at her with an astonished look upon his face. She explains to him that she is his fairy godmother and that she's been watching over him for his entire life. She has always been impressed with his kind heart and wanted to step in and help him with his life's struggles. In a flash of light, she transforms his suit into a more beautiful one, one that is surely good enough for the gathering. His suit was blue, white and gold, it shimmered in the light, his loafers were made of pure gold and he had a small cape with golden clasps. Rafael couldn’t have been happier. She changes his dad's old beat up chevy into a beautiful white and blue Ferrari. Rafael’s dog that nearby got the fairy godmother's attention. With another flash of light, his beloved dog has now turned into the driver. She warns him that her magic will end by the stroke of midnight and he must leave before then. Rafael nods his head in agreement and hops into his new car as his dog races off into the night. 

When he arrives at the gathering, the first thing he sees across the room is the prince. For the prince is standing all alone and at that moment their eyes lock, time stands still as they take in each other. They both feel a pull that makes them walk towards each other. “Hi, I’m Seth, would you like to dance,” The prince said offering his hand to Rafael. 

Rafael replied, “Of course!”  The prince would only dance with Rafael for the rest of the night, they swayed silently throughout the room capturing everyone's attention.    

At the time of their six dance, the prince spins Rafael around, which grants him a look at the clock. He feels a sudden wave of fear as he sees the time is 11:50, he knew then that it was time to leave the night where for the first time in his life since his father died, he finally felt like himself. 

He runs out of the prince’s arms and make his way out of the gathering to come to that main steps. Before he runs down he looks behind him and sees the prince call for him.

“Wait! Please don’t leave! I never even got your name!”Rafael takes one last look at his prince and rushes down the stairs before the prince can reach him. When he reaches the car he hops in as his beloved pet, turned driver, races to get home before midnight. They make it back to the house just as the car turns back to its original form, the driver turns back into the dog, and his beautifully suit turns back into his dad’s torn up one. However, when he looked down he shocked to notice two different things. At one point when he was leaving he must have lost one of his shoes, for he only had one on, also the shoe was in its form that his fairy godmother turned it into. 

He rushes down to his room, with his beloved dog chasing after him, and hides the shoe on top of his small closet. He changes into his sleep clothes and brings his dog up on the bed with him.

“Oh Buddy, I had such an amazing time at the gathering,” Rafael tells his tale to his dog until they both fall asleep wondering what tomorrow will bring them. 

Rafael wakes up to the harsh light and the sounds of his stepmother bounding down the stairs screaming his name.

“Rafael! Rafael! Wake up this instant! We must get the house in tip-top shape!” Rafael is hardly awake as he tries to figure out what this woman was screaming at him now. “The Prince Seth  is coming to the neighborhoods!” She said her body vibrated with excitement as well as anger because she didn’t have the chance to capture the prince’s heart. “He is trying to find the mysterious person that he danced with last night!” His heart skipped a beat when he hears the prince’s name, 

Could he really becoming here? Is this my last chance to see him before I am lost to him forever?

Rafael has no time to think as his stepmother finally pulls him out of the bed and makes him clean the entire house. The hours went by slowly as he cleaned everything that one could think of for cleaning a house. After he finally finishes cleaning, his stepmother makes him help her get ready for the arrival of the prince. When finally they all hear a car door slam and hears footsteps coming towards the door.

The stepmother motions her hand to one of her children to check the window to see if it was them. “Mother, it is them!” replied one of the brothers. 

Rafael feels his heart skip a beat and starts to feel excited, however that excitement is quickly distinguished when he heard his mother say,

“Rafael you must not be seen! You look hideous and you're all dirty! Go to your room.”

 Rafael knew better than to argue with her and steps foot in the basement as he hears her greet the prince and his workers. He starts to silently sob as he remembers last night, thinking about how the prince held him close as if he was the only one in the world. He starts to hum one of the songs that they danced to. Although he did not realize how loudly he was humming, so loud that they could all hear him upstairs.

“Ma'am, I thought you said you three were the only ones in the house?” the prince looked down on the mother. He recognized the tone and knew it was a song from last night. 

“Oh! Well…you see...the thing is…” The prince pushes passed her and followed the sound of the sweet singing. 

As the prince reaches the door, he pushes it open and calls down, “Whoever is down there would you please come up. I would like to speak to you.” 

“I’m coming up,” said the soft voice from below.

Rafael runs up the stairs when he reaches the top he brushes himself off, doing nothing to fix his disheveled appearance. 

“Do you have the other loafer sir?” the price asked hope in his voice.

Rafael pulls the other loafer out of his pocket to present to the prince.

“It's you!” the prince exclaimed as he picked him up and twirled him around.

Rafael replied, “It’s so nice to see you again!”

“I’d love to court you if you’ll have me?” the prince asked. 

Rafael moved to hug the prince “Of course I will!”

“I know you hurt me, but I forgive you,” Rafael said almost reluctant to leave because this is the only family he has left.   

They both left the house but not before Rafael’s dog bites the stepmother for trying to stop them from leaving by calling obscenities at them. 

They courted for many years and finally decided to get married. When the day came, but Rafael and Prince Seth were overjoyed and as cliche, as it sounds they lived happily ever after.